Natural caloric sweeteners, such as sucrose, glucose, and fructose, possess desirable taste characteristics, but they add to the caloric content of products. Therefore, there is great consumer interest in low or non-caloric sweeteners that are considered as healthier alternatives. Non-caloric natural and synthetic high-potency sweeteners are known, but they most often possess flavor profiles that are not as desirable to consumers as natural caloric sweeteners. Thus, it is desirable to develop improved non-caloric sweeteners that can be substituted for sugar and that have a more desirable taste profile.
The species Stevia rebaudiana (“Stevia”) is the source of certain naturally occurring sweet steviol glycosides. Considerable research and development has been done to evaluate the use of sweet steviol glycosides of Stevia as non-caloric sweeteners. Sweet steviol glycosides that may be extracted from Stevia include the six rebaudiosides (i.e., rebaudiosides A to F), stevioside (the predominant glycoside in extracts from wild type Stevia), steviolbioside, rubusoside, and dulcosides.
Commercial low or non-caloric sweeteners based on Rebaudioside A and other sweet steviol glycosides tend to have bitter and liquorice aftertastes. These characteristics are especially notable at concentrations above about 300 ppm. In food applications, preferred use levels (8-10% sugar equivalence values) are typically about 500 ppm to about 1000 ppm, above the range at which off-tastes are first noticed. Thus a need continues to exist for reduced-, low-, and/or non-caloric sweeteners including sweet steviol glycosides that have taste profiles with reduced or no bitterness, undesirable flavors (e.g., licorice), or sweetness profiles more like natural caloric sweeteners, or combinations of such properties.
The species Siraitia grosvenorii, an herbaceous perennial vine native to southern China and Northern Thailand, has also been investigated as a source of intensely sweet glycosides (mogrosides), with the main sweet component being mogroside V. It is one of four species in the genus Siraitia. Botanical synonyms include Momordica grosvenorii and Thladiantha grosvenorii. The fruit of this species, which is commonly referred to as monk fruit or Luo Han Guo, may be subjected to an extraction procedure whereby the resulting extract contains mogroside V and other mogrosides in concentrated, purified form. By itself, monk fruit extract may not have a temporal profile which makes it completely acceptable as a non-caloric replacement for caloric sweeteners (sugars) in food and beverage compositions.
Accordingly, there remains a desire to develop low- and non-caloric sweetener compositions based on naturally obtained glycosides having high sweetness intensity which have improved taste (e.g., less bitterness, lower levels of off-flavors, reduced aftertaste, or any combination of such attributes).